Path

import "ghost:path"
import { join, basename } from "ghost:path"

The path module builds and takes apart file paths. It is pure string manipulation — nothing here touches the filesystem, and nothing here knows where the running script lives. That is the line between this module and file: building a path and reading one are different jobs, even though a script usually does both together.

Methods

path.basename()

Returns the last element of a path.

path.basename('/home/user/save.json')

// 'save.json'

path.dirname()

Returns everything but the last element of a path.

path.dirname('/home/user/save.json')

// '/home/user'

path.extname()

Returns the extension, dot included, or an empty string when there isn't one.

path.extname('main.ghost')  // '.ghost'
path.extname('README')      // ''

path.isAbsolute()

Returns whether the path is absolute.

path.isAbsolute('/home/user')  // true
path.isAbsolute('./saves')     // false

path.join()

Joins any number of path segments with the operating system's own separator, and cleans the result: . and .. are resolved, and repeated separators collapse.

path.join('saves', 'slot1', 'save.json')

// 'saves/slot1/save.json'

path.join('saves', '..', 'assets')

// 'assets'

Building a path this way rather than by string concatenation is what keeps a script working on Windows as well as Unix.

Working with file

The two modules are meant to be used together — path decides where, file does the reading and writing:

import "ghost:file"
import "ghost:path"

directory = 'saves'

if (!file.exists(directory)) {
  file.mkdir(directory)
}

for (name in file.list(directory)) {
  if (path.extname(name) == '.json') {
    console.log(path.join(directory, name))
  }
}